Celeste Bright

Decisions are made. Lines are crossed.

Things move so quickly in this episode that Celeste doesn’t even have a chance to tell Agent Taylor about her fight with Gordon Tate and how he took her gun. However, Taylor’s actions show that he doesn’t believe she’s killed anyone, so it’s not necessary for Celeste to explain to him that she’s innocent.

It’s left up to the viewer to figure out that Agent Taylor obtained the false identification documents from Madam Lola as their only scene together ended with Madam Lola telling him to get out of her house. Taylor must have gained Lola’s trust and convinced her that he was sincere in his desire to help Celeste. Since these documents had to have been created days earlier, it’s now obvious that Taylor had been planning to help her since before they had their conversation in the park in episode eight. It’ll be interesting to learn Taylor’s back story and his own personal agenda because his actions are about more than being in love.

Celeste has lost control of her life and must adapt quickly to these new circumstances. To run away is contrary to everything she is and believes in, but as she realizes that Taylor has risked his career because he trusts in her innocence, she makes the decision to put her trust in him and risk becoming a fugitive. They are now emotionally bound to each other.

I’m looking forward to the next season where we will: follow Celeste on her travels as she meets and overcomes challenges with her new identity; watch Agent Taylor investigate and gather evidence to prove Celeste’s innocence while keeping his partner, Agent Stover, from finding out that he was the one who helped her escape; and see how Celeste and Taylor’s commitment to each other is tested while they are so far apart.

Goals: 1) Show Celeste as hopeful and happy at the prospect of a relationship with Agent Taylor; 2) Have Celeste defend herself against Gordon’s threat; 3) Implicate Celeste in a murder.

This is the episode where things comes to a head, the climax. It begins with hope and light and ends with darkness and murder. The opening scene finds Celeste in a carefree moment with Trudy where she’s still on an emotional high from her encounter with Agent Taylor. It’s also a poignant moment because the audience knows that Celeste still has the same problems with Gordon and the money laundering that she had before, and that it’s just a matter of time before everything catches up with her.

When Gordon shows up in her office, she pulls a gun on him to protect herself and to regain her power. Of course, it’s another bad decision because she doesn’t have it in her to shoot him and ends up having him take it away from her in a knock-down, drag-out fight. Her attempt to assert control ends up with her not only losing consciousness but also losing her gun and being rendered even more vulnerable. Ultimately, the gun proves to be her undoing when it’s used as a murder weapon.

Because it’s the next to the last episode, questions had to be answered in a way to create more questions. Celeste is definitely interested in Agent Taylor and looks forward to a romance with him. What is Agent Taylor going to do when he finds out it’s her gun that killed Ivanov? Celeste stands up to Gordon, but can’t bring herself to shoot him and isn’t strong enough to physically overpower him. Will Gordon make the deal Agent Stover was talking about and get away scot-free? Gordon takes Celeste’s gun and frames her for murder. Will Celeste be arrested?

If I’ve done my job correctly, viewers will feel more emotionally invested in the story and be anxious to find out what happens next to Celeste, both legally and romantically. The character started out as someone who wasn’t all that likable, but at this point, hopefully, viewers should have discovered something about Celeste on her journey with which they can identify and/or empathize.

Goals: 1) Establish intimacy between Celeste and Agent Taylor; 2) Cathy recognizes their their newfound closeness.

For this episode, I wanted a quiet and calm setting in juxtaposition to Celeste’s inner turmoil. Although she tells Agent Taylor that she has nothing to say, her body language says that she’s not mad he’s there. When she talks about her father, it’s obvious how much she loved him, and Agent Taylor tries to use that affection to shame her into admitting that what she’s doing is wrong. But there’s no shame in her game. Celeste is filled with rage, and she’s on a mission to avenge her father’s financial ruin and build a monument to honor him. She’s not about to stop taking advantage of high finance crooks before her father’s name is on a building. Her rage and her loyalty to her father’s memory will not allow her to behave the way Agent Taylor, or anybody else, thinks she should behave. She is committed, beyond all reason, to a course of action that could ultimately prove to be self-destructive.

Agent Taylor hears her grief, and he’s even more attracted to her now than he was before. He sees her as she is, and he likes what he sees.

For this episode, it was essential that it not seem like their mutual attraction came out of nowhere. It’s been obvious since the first episode that Agent Taylor was attracted to Celeste, and he’s gotten increasingly emotionally invested with her well-being as things go from bad to worse for her. However, Celeste hasn’t given any hint as to how she feels about him other than regarding him as a nuisance. But when he catches her off guard and asks her out on a date, she can’t hide her pleasure at the thought of being with him, which makes perfect sense. For she has just revealed herself to him uncut, with no apology, take it or leave it — and he’s taking it.

In order for this secret romantic relationship to hold the threat of being used against one or both of them, someone else has to know about it. The fact that Cathy is the one who sees them together adds to the tension because the viewer is left to wonder not if she’s going to tell their secret, but when and to whom.

Two goals: 1) Show Celeste take action and investigate on her own; 2) Have Agent Taylor confront Madam Lola with the truth of her identity.

This episode opens with Celeste examining canceled checks as she conducts her own investigation. When Cathy tells her in ominous tones that Friendly Bank is owned by Russians, the implication is that it’s the Russian mob. Although one might accuse me of employing a stereotype about Russians, it’s been well documented that Russian mobsters not only control most of the banks in Russia, but have also laundered billions of dollars through US banks, especially in New York. However, in this instance Cathy seems to speak from personal experience when she says the Russians are “scary,” as she is truly frightened for Celeste when Celeste says she’s going to the bank. Cathy even tries to physically block her from leaving, indicating that in spite of spying on her boss for Gordon, Cathy does care about Celeste’s safety. Celeste knows that Cathy’s been telling Gordon her business, but doesn’t do anything about it other than to gently admonish Cathy not to tell anyone where she’s going, which falls on deaf ears because Cathy’s on the phone before Celeste is completely out of the office. There’s obviously much more to Cathy than meets the eye, but Celeste believes she’s harmless, that she’s just a blabbermouth.

In this scene, Celeste takes the bull by the horns. After being forced to sign that check for Gordon, she needs to regain a sense of control. Celeste doesn’t blink an eye when Cathy begs her not to go because she’s certain that she knows better than Cathy how to handle this. Once again, Celeste can’t see beyond her own hubris.

The next scene is where we learn about Madam Lola’s background by way of Agent Taylor reciting her criminal history as soon as she answers the door. It first appears that he has the upper hand and will force Lola to provide him with information about Celeste. But Lola doesn’t scare easily and is surprisingly loyal to Celeste, whom she considers a friend. This scene is extremely important for what it doesn’t show because the audience doesn’t see what happens after Lola tells Agent Taylor to get out. I did this deliberately because I wanted the reveal in the final episode to allow the audience to fill in the blanks on their own. It’s a must for Agent Taylor to say Lola’s crimes out loud as part of their conversation in order for the audience to remember and have the “aha” moment in the final episode when they realize what he has done. Agent Taylor going alone to confront Lola is foreshadowing.

Back to Celeste and her investigation in the warehouse district. Of course, she rings the bell of what is obviously not a bank like she’s making a normal business call. And then a man emerges from the shadows and shatters her bravado. She’s out of her element and unprepared for what she encounters, so she runs away as fast as she can in her high heels. And then she bumps into Gordon. And he has a gun. She feels powerless yet again as she flees the scene.

To protect herself and try to level the playing field, Celeste retrieves her father’s gun. She won’t be caught off guard again. Another bad choice.

Goals: 1) Show Celeste relinquish her control by getting in deeper with Gordon because she feels trapped; 2) Reveal Agent Taylor’s feelings of frustration because he cares about what happens to Celeste.

Episode 4 ended with Celeste being rightly unnerved by Gordon’s threat against her. She was scared. However, in episode 5 she talked herself into continuing to stonewall Agent Taylor, seemingly from a position of strength. She was so full of herself she even rebuffed Taylor in person when he reached out to her. But, here in episode 6 she is once again faced with the reality of Gordon and his threats to her well being. Although she attempts to resist writing that check, Gordon knows that she values her name and reputation above all else and will do anything to protect those things. In her mind, she has no choice but to do what he wants in order for her to get what she wants.

At FBI headquarters, Agent Taylor vigorously expresses his displeasure at the thought of Gordon cutting a deal while Celeste is left holding the bag. I had to be careful with this scene because I wanted to have enough foreshadowing to hint at Rick’s romantic interest in Celeste and to provide context for his future actions, but I didn’t want to give so much away as to be predictable. I also had to be careful that it not be obvious to Murray that Rick had more than a professional interest in the case. I’m still not sure if I struck the right balance because there’s a major contrast between the reactions of the two agents. However, Murray is the senior agent and I thought it likely that he could view Rick’s rather emotional outburst as that of someone who is passionate about justice whereas Murray is somewhat jaded and just wants to do the job. Referring back to episode one, he could very well rationalize that this perceived difference between the two of them is the reason why Rick was tapped to head a task force and he wasn’t. There might just be some resentment simmering beneath the surface of this partnership.

If you’ve watched all 10 episodes of the first season, you understand how this scene between Rick and Murray will be pivotal in the second season. How do you think it’s all going to play out?

The goals for this episode: 1) Show that Celeste doesn’t have anyone to confide in; 2) Have Celeste reject Agent Taylor’s offer of help outright.

The preceding episode ended after Gordon threatened Celeste, which raised the question of whether she would continue to do business with him or cooperate with the FBI. This episode opens with her talking to herself about this dilemma in the form of confiding in a psychic. The conventional choice would have been for me to have her confide in a psychiatrist, someone who couldn’t tell her secrets because of doctor-patient confidentiality. However, that wouldn’t have been organic to the character. It’s highly unlikely that Celeste would go to a psychiatrist because most black people don’t engage in psychotherapy. It’s a cultural thing. If she needed counseling, she’d go to the pastor. So I had to come up with someone that Celeste could talk/vent to and not worry about Trudy or the Dean finding out about her secrets. I think it’s sad when Madam Lola suggests that she talk to someone about what’s going on and Celeste responds, “I’m talking to you.” There’s no one in her life with whom she feels she can share her troubles.

Immediately after Celeste pays Madam Lola to be her sounding board, she runs smack dab into Agent Taylor. He knows her secrets, and he says that he wants to help her. But she clings to the facade that she’s smarter than everybody and rejects his help. At this point I was worried that her actions stretched the bounds of credulity after Gordon’s threat. Why would she do anything that would, in effect, protect him? I had to make sure that Celeste’s rationale — yet to be disclosed — would be strong enough to justify this self-destructive behavior.

This episode is about allies, the characters that help the protagonist make the right choices. Madam Lola advises her to talk to somebody, and she rejects that advice. Agent Taylor offers to help, and she rejects that help. Celeste is determined to go it alone.

Goals for this episode: 1) Introduce the antagonist, Gordon Tate; 2) Open things up by going outside of the office.

What I really like about this episode is that Celeste is out of the office and dressed for a party. We get a glimpse of her in a social setting, a single woman whose friend is trying to fix her up. As far as Trudy is concerned, Celeste’s biggest problem is that she doesn’t have a boyfriend. If she only knew.

I wanted to immediately establish Gordon Tate as the antagonist by his behavior towards Celeste regarding her meeting with the FBI rather than by exposition about his illegal activities. Their interaction starts out as friendly and playful, and then it turns and takes her by surprise. She has never seen this side of him before. Gordon’s dialogue had to be threatening without being on the nose. The threat had to be implicit in the warning, “don’t fuck with me,” and she had to react to it as such. As he walks away, she touches her neck as if he’s had her in a stranglehold, indicating that he achieved the desired effect of intimidation.

This encounter makes Celeste a little more sympathetic because she’s confronted directly by the antagonist, and we see the first crack in her confident facade. She is visibly shaken. The FBI didn’t scare her because she experienced the meeting with Agent Taylor on an intellectual level and made the decision — however misguided — that she had nothing to fear from them. But Gordon got in her face and triggered a visceral reaction in her to the extent that she experienced a physical threat. Gordon made it real.

The question at the end of this episode should be: What is she going to do about Gordon?

Goals for this episode: 1) Show that the FBI knows about Celeste’s loan shark business; 2) Have Celeste remain enough of an enigma for Agent Taylor to want to find out more about her.

I wanted Celeste to give the impression that she has everything under control, but reveal enough through Agent Taylor’s questions to indicate that she’s a little too smart for her own good and doesn’t seem to recognize that she’s in deep trouble. As Agent Taylor recites the names of her embezzler friends and the details of her financial transactions with them, she doesn’t adapt to the situation and go into self-preservation mode as most people would do. On the contrary, she’s almost defiant in her defense of these men as she acknowledges how she has helped them escape punishment for their wrongdoing.

The subtext is the unspoken conversation going on beneath the surface of the actual words exchanged between Celeste and Agent Taylor. Here we have two black people, each working in areas where other black people are few and far between. Agent Taylor works in a white collar crime unit, dealing with corporate fraud and the like, where he would almost never come across a black person in such rarefied financial air. The same is true of Celeste who wouldn’t meet many black people in her legitimate business and certainly wouldn’t have any black loan shark clients because a black person caught embezzling wouldn’t be allowed to simply replace stolen money (see Joseph Jett). I’ve been in professional and social situations where I was the only black person and was overjoyed to see another black person I thought I could relate to, and I felt disappointed if they behaved in less than what I thought to be an ideal manner, yet I still gave them the benefit of the doubt because it was just us. I think that anyone who’s a member of a minority group has experienced something like this at least once in their life. If you add a potential romantic aspect, it’s even more intense.

What Agent Taylor is really saying: “I can tell you’re a decent woman. How can you not be bothered by what these men have done? What’s wrong with you, defending people that don’t care about you? Are you crazy, putting yourself in a position to go to jail for them? Something isn’t right. It doesn’t make any sense. Fine sister like you.” He doesn’t believe her explanation that she’s simply helping her friends and suspects something else is going on that’s put her in this predicament.

What Celeste is really saying: “I won’t let you mess up what I’ve got going on. Don’t worry about what it is. I have everything under control. You look good, but I can’t right now.” She doesn’t see her situation for what it really is because she’s blinded by something else. Maybe greed. Maybe arrogance.

And the button on the scene/episode is Cathy’s mysterious phone call. Is Cathy friend or foe? Does she call someone who can help Celeste or someone who can hurt her? These questions should prompt the viewer to find out what happens next.

Goals for this episode: 1) Reveal Henry’s criminal activities; 2) Show Celeste as a loan shark; 3) Have Celeste acknowledge Henry’s thievery and turn a blind eye towards it; 3) Introduce the naming of a university building as something important to Celeste.

I spent a significant amount of time on the Henry Bradford character in the first and second episodes because I wanted him to at first appear benign and then show how truly awful he is and how he’s protected from criminal prosecution because of his class status and connections. For Celeste to do business with him in a way that helps him get away with his crime puts her in an unfavorable light because it implies that all she cares about is money, which is totally in character for a loan shark. She’s fully aware that he’s a thief by nature and lets him know she doesn’t want to hear about him stealing his great aunt’s necklace by saying it’s T.M.I., too much information.

It was necessary to show that Celeste is a member of Henry’s social circle by having him ask if she’s going to Trudy’s party. They are obviously friends. I hope it’s also clear that the referral he got for her services was from another friend in their social group because hers is a word-of-mouth business with a very specific clientele. While Celeste apparently isn’t concerned about Henry’s stealing, she does care about the naming of a university building as shown by her making a phone call to the dean to make an appointment to finalize the ceremony details.

At this point I’ve planted the seeds to establish Celeste as a multidimensional character. In the first episode she provides financial advice to a married couple that she’s connected to through a church pastor. A stranger bumps into her, and she gives him a warm smile.

She’s a pleasant financial professional who helps people.

However, in the second episode she gives a loan to an embezzler, charges him exorbitant interest and takes what she knows to be a stolen necklace as collateral. The naming of a building is more important to her than stealing from an old lady. The embezzler is her friend, and they discuss attending another friend’s party.

She’s a superficial loan shark who hangs out with thieves.

My favorite thing about creating characters is giving them flaws. Once I know what the flaws are the characters truly take on a life of their own. This is, of course, because all actions must be organic to the character. It’s never a question of what the average person in a certain situation would do, but what a particular character with a specific flaw would do. Will she give in to the flaw? Will she overcome the flaw and transform? Will it be too late? Oh, the possibilities!